When one thinks of mass murder, Hitler comes to mind. If not Hitler, then Tojo, Stalin, or Mao. Credit is given to the 20th-century totalitarians as the worst species of tyranny to have ever arisen. However, the alarming truth is that Islam has killed more than any of these, and may surpass all of them combined in numbers and cruelty.

The enormity of the slaughters of the "religion of peace" are so far beyond comprehension that even honest historians overlook the scale. When one looks beyond our myopic focus, Islam is the greatest killing machine in the history of mankind, bar none.

The Islamic conquest of India is probably the bloodiest story in history. -- Will Durant, as quoted on Daniel Pipes site.

Conservative estimates place the number at 80 million dead Indians.

According to some calculations, the Indian (subcontinent) population decreased by 80 million between 1000 (conquest of Afghanistan) and 1525 (end of Delhi Sultanate). -- Koenrad Elst as quoted on Daniel Pipes site

80 Million?! The conquistadors' crimes pale into insignificance at that number. No wonder Hitler admired Islam as a fighting religion. He stood in awe of Islam, whose butchery even he did not surpass.

Over 110 Million Blacks were killed by Islam.

... a minumum of 28 Million African were enslaved in the Muslim Middle East. Since, at least, 80 percent of those captured by Muslim slave traders were calculated to have died before reaching the slave market, it is believed that the death toll from 1400 years of Arab and Muslim slave raids into Africa could have been as high as 112 Millions. When added to the number of those sold in the slave markets, the total number of African victims of the trans-Saharan and East African slave trade could be significantly higher than 140 Million people. -- John Allembillah Azumah, author of The Legacy of Arab-Islam in Africa: A Quest for Inter-religious Dialogue

Add just those two numbers alone together, and Islam has surpassed the victims of 20th-century totalitarianism. However, it does not end there. Add the millions who died at the hand of Muslims in the Sudan in our lifetime.

Much of Islamic slavery was sexual in nature, with a preference for women. Those men who were captured were castrated. The mulatto children of the women were often killed, which explains why Islam was not demographically shifted towards the black race, unlike slaves in the West, who bore children to breed a mestizo class. Add in those dead children; and we arrive at well over 200 million.

Remember that in the 7th century, North Africa was almost totally Christian. What happened to them?

By the year 750, a hundred years after the conquest of Jerusalem, at least 50 percent of the world's Christians found themselves under Muslim hegemony… Today there is no indigenous Christianity in the region [of Northwest Africa], no communities of Christians whose history can be traced to antiquity.-- "Christianity Face to Face with Islam," CERC

What happened to those Christian millions? Some converted. The rest? Lost to history.

We know that over 1 million Europeans were enslaved by Barbary Pirates. How many died is anybody's guess.

...for the 250 years between 1530 and 1780, the figure could easily have been as high as 1,250,000 - BBC

The same practice ran through Islamic Spain. North Europeans captured from raids up to Iceland, or purchased, were butchered in the castratoriums of Iberia. Many died from the operations that ran for centuries.

The number of dead from the Muslim conquest of the Balkans and Southern Italy is unknown, but again the numbers add up, surely into the millions over the centuries. Don't forget the 1.5 million Armenian Christians killed by the Turks during WWI. We do know that over five centuries, vast numbers of Christian boys were kidnapped to become Islamic Janissary mercenaries for the Turks. Add those in, too.

Muslims prized blonde women for their harems; and so enslaved Slavic women were purchased in the bazaars of the Crimean Caliphate. In Muslim Spain, an annual tribute of 100 Visigothic [blonde] women was required from Spain's Cantabrian coast.

Add in the death toll from the Reconquista and the numbers climb higher.

Research has shown that the Dark Ages were not caused by the Goths, who eventually assimilated and Christianized:

…the real destroyers of classical civilization were the Muslims. It was the Arab Invasions... which broke the unity of the Mediterranean world and turned the Middle Sea -- previously one of the world’s most important trading highways -- into a battleground. It was only after the appearance of Islam... that the cities of the West, which depended upon the Mediterranean trade for their survival, began to die. -- Islam Caused the Dark Ages

Add in those unknown millions who died as a consequence.

How many know the horrors of the conquest of Malaysia? The Buddhists of Thailand and Malaysia were slaughtered en masse.

When attacked and massacred by the Muslims, the Buddhists initially did not make any attempt to escape from their murderers. They accepted death with an air of fatalism and destiny. And hence they are not around today to tell their story. – History of Jihad.org

We may never know the numbers of dead.

After Muslims came to power in the early 15th century, animist hill peoples eventually disappeared due to their enslavement and ‘incorporation’ into the Muslim population of Malaya, Sumatra, Borneo, and Java via raids, tribute and purchase, especially of children. Java was the largest exporter of slaves around 1500. -- Islam Monitor

In the same manner, Islam arrived in the Philippines. Only the appearance of the Spanish stopped a total collapse, and confined Islam to the southern islands.

The coming of the Spanish saved the Philippines from Islam, except for the Southern tip where the population had been converted to Islam.-- History of Jihad.org

Again, the number of dead is unknown; but add them to the total.

The animist Filipinos were eager to ally with the Spanish against Islam. In fact, much of Southeast Asia welcomed the Spanish and Portuguese as preferable to Islam.

...from the 17th century successive Thai kings allied themselves with the seafaring Western powers – the Portuguese and the Dutch and succeeded in staving off the threat of Islam from the Muslim Malays and their Arab overlords.-- History of Jihad.org

A few galleons and muskets were not enough to conquer Asia. Islam had made the Europeans initially appear as liberators; and to a certain extent they were. Who were the real imperialists?

Even today...

...Malaysian Jihadis are plotting to transform multi-ethnic Malaysia into an Islamic Caliphate, and fomenting trouble in Southern Thailand.-- History of Jihad.org

Add this all up. The African victims. The Indian victims. The European victims. Add in the Armenian genocide. Then add in the lesser known, but no doubt quite large number of victims of Eastern Asia. Add in the jihad committed by Muslims against China, which was invaded in 651 AD. Add in the Crimean Khanate predations on the Slavs, especially their women.

Though the numbers are not clear, what is obvious is that Islam is the greatest murder machine in history bar none, possibly exceeding 250 million dead. Possibly one-third to one-half or more of all those killed by war or slavery in history can be traced to Islam; and this is just a cursory examination.

Now consider the over 125 Million women today who have been genitally mutilated for Islamic honor's sake. In spite of what apologists tell you, the practice is almost totally confined to Islamic areas.

New information from Iraqi Kurdistan raises the possibility that the problem is more prevalent in the Middle East than previously believed and that FGM is far more tied to religion than many Western academics and activists admit. – “Is Female Genital Mutilation an Islamic Problem?” ME Quarterly

Once thought concentrated in Africa, FGM has now been discovered to be common wherever Islam is found.

There are indications that FGM might be a phenomenon of epidemic proportions in the Arab Middle East. Hosken, for instance, notes that traditionally all women in the Persian Gulf region were mutilated. Arab governments refuse to address the problem. -- "Is Female Genital Mutilation an Islamic Problem?" ME Quarterly

Remember that this has gone on for 1400 years; and was imposed on a population that had been formerly Christian or pagan.

...far from scaling down, the problem of FGM in Indonesia has escalated sharply. The mass ceremonies in Bandung have grown bigger and more popular every year. -- Guardian

The horrified British author of that Guardian article is still deluded that Islam does not support FGM, when in fact it is now settled that FGM is a core Islamic practice. Islamic women have been brainwashed to support their own abuse.

Abu Sahlieh further cited Muhammad as saying, "Circumcision is a sunna (tradition) for the men and makruma (honorable deed) for the women." -- “Is Female Genital Mutilation an Islamic Problem?” ME Quarterly

What other tyranny does this? Not even the Nazis mutilated their own women!

Unlike the 20th-century totalitarians whose killing fury consumed themselves, reducing their longevity, Islam paces itself. In the end, though slower, Islam has killed and tortured far more than any other creed, religious or secular. Unlike secular tyranny, Islam, by virtue of its polygamy and sexual predations, reproduces itself and increases.

Other tyrannies are furious infections, which burn hot, but are soon overcome. Islam is a slow terminal cancer, which metastasizes, and takes over. It never retreats. Its methods are more insidious, often imperceptible at first, driven by demographics. Like cancer, excision may be the only cure.

So whenever you read about this or that Israeli outrage -- and there may be truth to the complaint -- place the news in context. Look whom the Israelis are fighting against. Islam is like nothing else in history.

Mike Konrad is the pen name of an American who is not Jewish, Latin, or Arab. He runs a website, http://latinarabia.com, where he discusses the subculture of Arabs in Latin America. He wishes his Spanish were better.

Experience the grandeur of the newly refurbished Renaissance royal palace at Stirling Castle. This short film offers a tantalizing glimpse of the sumptuous interiors, now returned to how they may have looked in the mid 16th century.
See fabulous period costumes, hand-made in silks and velvets, worn by the team who show visitors round the apartments where Mary Queen of Scots lived as a little girl with her mother, Mary of Guise. www.stirlingcastle.gov.uk

Operation Overlord was the code name for the Battle of Normandy, the operation that launched the invasion of German-occupied western Europe during World War II by Allied forces.
The operation commenced on 6 June 1944 with the Normandy landings (Operation Neptune, commonly known as D-Day). A 12,000-plane airborne assault preceded an amphibious assault involving almost 7,000 vessels. Nearly 160,000 troops crossed the English Channel on 6 June; more than three million allied troops were in France by the end of August
Allied land forces that saw combat in Normandy on D-Day itself came from Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States. Free French Forces and Poland also participated in the battle after the assault phase, and there were also minor contingents from Belgium, Greece, the Netherlands, and Norway. Other Allied nations participated in the naval and air forces.
The battle for Normandy continued for more than two months, concluding with the closing of the Falaise pocket on 24 August, the Liberation of Paris on 25 August, and the German retreat across the Seine which was completed on 30 August 1944.

The man with the sponge lifted it
and dabbed at the wall, wiping off the "No. 45" chalked there.
Wherever he saw this popular slogan, he repeated his action.

It was Alexander Cruden's odd way
of showing his loyalty to King George III and cleaning up morals. George had
given the poor, half-mad scholar £100 for dedicating the second edition of his
Bible Concordance to him. But the king's government was not popular. When John
Wilkes published a vicious and dirty-minded attack against the king in issue
number 45 of the North Briton, "No. 45" became the rallying cry of
the opposition. Cruden was doing his bit to clean up culture.

Born on this day, May 31, 1700, he seemed likely to be
highly successful, completing his masters degree at a young age. However, when
a girl rejected him, his mind snapped and he spent time in mad houses. In spite
of this, he did well in business. He became the official bookseller to the
queen and corrected proofs for fifty years, giving more than half his income to
charity.

For the most part he was more
annoying than dangerous. He fell in love and pestered women to marry him. His
one act of violence was to whack a blasphemer with a shovel. He petitioned
Parliament to name him the official corrector of public morals and even wrote a
book titled The Adventures of Alexander
the Corrector. He bugged the king to make him a knight so that he would
have the influence he needed to improve everyone. He even stood for a seat in
Parliament, expecting that God would intervene to put him in office.

Cruden actually did bring about
one bit of reform. He wrote an account of his mistreatment in mental wards.
Sympathetic readers were able to use its evidence to improve conditions.

On another occasion, convinced
that a weak-minded sailor named Potter had been unjustly condemned to die,
Cruden rushed from government office to office for two days, pleading for the
man's life. Every chance he got, he fell to his knees in prayer for Potter's
soul. A rare reprieve came just hours before Potter was to hang. Cruden then
nursed the man back to health and wrote an indignant, eye-witness appeal for
prison reform. He was a century ahead of his time. Although Cruden corrected
people, he genuinely cared about them. Once he rebuked a street woman for
plying her trade. She said she had no other way to earn a living. Cruden asked
everyone he knew to hire her as a maid. When no one would, he employed her
himself. She worked for him faithfully for several years and sobbed pitifully
when he died alone in his room.

But Cruden's place in Church history is owing to his contribution to
Bible scholarship. A Bible concordance is a dictionary that lists the words
that appear in the Bible and shows in what verses they can be found. When you
consider how long the Bible is, you can easily see how useful such a dictionary
must be. The best concordance of Cruden's day listed the words with the verse
numbers under them. As many as five hundred men had worked at preparing it.
Cruden saw that he could make a much more useful version. Working all alone
with scarcely a break for eighteen months, he wrote a new concordance. His
great innovation was to quote a bit of verse around each word.

The first edition did not sell
well. Cruden became depressed. Later editions of the concordance did much
better. The famous preacher Charles Spurgeon said that the concordance was as
necessary to a preacher "as a plane to the carpenter, or a plough to the
husbandman."

Cruden died at 71. He was found
kneeling by his bed with a Bible open in front of him.

Alexander Cruden was born at
Aberdeen, Scotland. He compiled the first complete concordance of the Bible. He
was raised a strict Presbyterian, but after a romantic disappointment, he
developed mental problems and was sometimes violent. He was placed in an
asylum. Released in 1722, he still suffered mental problems, and was not very
successful at business ventures. In 1736, he began to compile his concordance,
having had a hobby of tracing words through the Bible. Eighteen months later,
he published the work. He became obsessed with correcting people's sins,
especially swearing and sabbath-breaking, which led to his nickname
"Alexander the Corrector." He died suddenly in 1770 while praying.
But his concordance was so valuable a tool to ministers that Spurgeon claimed
that "half-crazy" Cruden had done more for Bible scholarship than the
scholars in the schools.

Guido de Bres (also known as Guido de Bray,[1]Guy de Bray and Guido de Brès, 1522 – 31 May 1567) was
a Walloon pastor and theologian, a student of John Calvin and Theodore Beza in Geneva. He was
born in Mons, County of Hainaut, Southern Netherlands, and martyred at Valenciennes, aged 45. De Bres compiled and published the Walloon Confession of Faith
known as the Belgic Confession (1561) (Confessio Belgica) still in use today in Belgium and the
Netherlands. It is also used by many Reformed Churches all over the world.

Early life

Guido de Bres was
born in Mons, today in southwestern Belgium. His father was
formerly known as Jean Du Beguinage (alternatively: Jan le Béguinage) was an
itinerant blauschilder [lit. blue painter] which is indicative of the tin-glazed process, a
precursor to Delftware, introduced into the Netherlands by Guido de Savino in 1512 at Antwerp.
Jean changed his name to that of De Bres when he settled in Mons and with his
wife bore five children: Jehan, Jherome, Christoffel, Guy and daughter
Mailette. Rehalenbeck suggests one other son, Michel.

De Bres was
brought up by his mother, a devout Roman Catholic until the end of her days.
The names of Guy's mother are unknown other than that of De Bres. Guy was a
Roman Catholic and was very strong in that faith by all accounts.[1] Not much is known
of Guy's early life other than he followed his brother Jehan into school at the
appropriate age and after a basic education followed his father in learning the
craft of blauschilder.

The De Bres family
were known for their skills in glass painting, and young Guido was trained in
this art before moving to England. In his teenage years, he became a follower of the Protestant
religion as taught by Martin Luther. Later he
converted to Calvinism. He met and studied under John Calvin at the academy of
Geneva where Calvin
taught.

Career

Guy was converted
between the age of 18 and 25. It is almost certain he became familiar with the Reformed faith through
printed works. On 22 September 1540 a proclamation banned a large number of
books: by Erasmus in Latin, Melanchthon, Eobanus Hessus and others, as
well as the New Testament, the Gospels, the Epistles, and the Prophetical books
of the Bible in French and Flemish. These books were deemed heretical by the Roman Catholic Church
authorities. In 1543 books were burned in the marketplace of Lille: La
Doctrines des Enfants (a Lutheran catechism), also Lamentations of Jesus
Christ, La Sant Otraison and a book by a Flemish priest entitled: Letters
Institution 2.

In 1548, while Guy
was still in Mons, he forged a friendship with an English couple: Mr. Nicholas
and his wife. Mr Nicholas, his friend and two wives were caught by the
authorities and charged with subversion of the Roman Catholic faith. They were
imprisoned together with a number of Protestants from that area. Guy then fled
to England, during the reign of Edward VI. On 4 November 1547 the English parliament had decided to allow the two
elements used in the communion to be enjoyed by all people. Guy probably kept
company with a number of refugees from continental Europe: Tremellius, Valérand Poullain, Martin Bucer, John a Lasco, Jan Utenhove, Marten de Klyne (Marten
Micron or Micronius), Wouter Deelen, François
Perucel de la Rivière and others.[1] Whilst in England
Guy attended the church of John a Lasco, and in 1551 he also became familiar
with a Lasco's London
Confession. The largest group of refugees came from the Low Countries.
John a Lasco served as superintendent to a number of foreign congregations
including the Dutch. A Lasco was a Polish nobleman with Zwinglian
tendencies.(1551).[2] Guy left England
in 1552 before Mary, Queen of England came to the throne.

In 1565 De Bres
was arrested for his Calvinist beliefs. He was tried before the Spanish Inquisition, received the death penalty and was hanged at Valenciennes. He died a martyr's death in front
of a large crowd after making a final statement of his beliefs. He was pushed
off the scaffold by the hangman whilst addressing the crowd. Twelve days before
his death he wrote a still-circulating letter[6] to his wife
showing his trust in God.

Legacy

De Bres wrote a
number of books. The Belgic Confession is part of the Three Forms of Unity, a set of official statements of doctrine used by churches with roots in
the continental Reformed tradition. Its text is still in wide use in particular among confessionally Reformed
churches.

Lutheran

Presbyterian

About Me

Retired. Reformed and Presbyterian by background, but dedicated to the Anglican Prayerbook with degrees from Presbyterian and Episcopal seminaries. Informed by both traditions. Not giving up the 1662 BCP for the Presbyterians and not giving up the Westminster Standards for the Anglicans.